Big Bear – Idyllwild Day – 152 – Thurs Nov 23rd

Day 152 Thurs Nov 23rd
Unmarked ridge Tent site after Mission creek – Tent site by water Faucet at foot of San Jacinco
2430.8 – 2449.5
Approx. 2047 ft ascent 3953 ft descent
18.7 Miles

This morning we woke up to a beautiful day feeling a little battered and bruised from our escapades yesterday in Mission Creek.

The ridge we pitched our tent on had great views of San Jacinto.
We also picked up a nice sunrise to match.

We have approx 14 miles before we get to Cabazon. From here we may be able to get a hitch into town. It would be great to grab
a burger and get rid of some trash before we start the next 20 mile climb of San Jacinto. But we will have to play it by ear.

We have 45 miles to Idyllwild which we plan to do in the next 2 days. So we do not want Cabazon to be too much of a distraction.

We also have one more river crossing this morning over the Whitewater River and then hopefully that’s it.

We come across a new nasty spikey plant species called Catclaw Arcacia. This scratches and claws at you like a kitten playing with a ball of wool.
We are hoping this relationship is short lived. Otherwise our legs are going to be in shreds by the end of the trail.

We’ve been seeing a variety of different species of cactus today, which has been very interesting.

We cross Whitewater River without issue. Although fast flowing it was only about 10 feet wide. There was also a log bridging the creek which we could use as a hand rail.

As we hike away from the White Water River basin we have a full mile up before we start dropping down to Cabazon.
The elevation gain is across 1000 feet and as we are hiking lizards and snakes dart out from underneath our feet.

Sarah comments she thought I said there would be no snakes up here. On checking my watch we were under 3,000 feet at the moment, so it’s likely although the temperatures at night are hopefully too cold for any rattlesnakes to make an appearance.

It’s extremely windy as we near the top, the wind is channelled through the mountains.

Around 13:00 we start to descend down the canyon towards Cabazon.
In front of us there are inter locking mountains running down the valley. Wind turbines also stand tall strategically positioned to catch the wind.

Sarah is in a lot of pain after falling yesterday and hurting her knee.
Because of her new injury she now needs to put even more weight on her bad foot + I can see she has been crying.
Strangely it seems to be more of an issue when she is hiking downhill and the 14 mile descent down to Cabazon really takes it out of her.

I try my best to to cheer her up talking about what food we’re going to eat when we get to Cabazon. But nothing seems to be working.

As we descend large balls of tumbleweed have collected. Trapped between the plants either side of the trail.
I do my best to clear them for Sarah, but they soon get blown back into place and act as an annoying obstacle.

Sarah then shouts “Tarantula” and I run back up to find a spider as big as my hand slowly walking up the trail.
This is the first 1 that I’ve seen and I was super excited. I missed the other 1 Sarah spotted on the way out of Cajon pass.

It seems harmless enough despite its menacing shape and size.

We then pass the Mesa wind farm on the last stretch down to Interstate 10 and Cabazon.

The trail runs parallel to a dirt road and due to Sarahs injury we decide to follow it.
The last part of the hike today was slow and laboured.
As we’re nearing the Highway Sarah shouts out “Tarantula” again. 2 in 1 day and I can hardly believe it. Maybe she should be called the tarantula whisperer. Our maybe I am just scaring them out of there hiding places as I hike past.

We arrived at Interstate 10 and took Smiles’ advice to try and hitch from the smaller side road that leads to Cabazon.

It took about 20 minutes before an interesting character called Spike pulled up and said he give us a ride.

Spike is wearing makeup and cowboy boots and claimed he was an Uber driver.

Because it was thanksgiving we had limited options in town as lots of places were closed.
Therefore Spike dropped us off at the casino. He said we would be able to get food inside, whilst we figured out our next move.
On entering the casino we were like rabbits in the headlights.
There was so many people playing slot machines and the tables. It was a massive contrast to the trail.

We made our way over into the food hall and headed to Panda Express which served up a chinese buffet.
The food looked fresh and it was easily the most popular option, so we felt it was a safe bet.

It was pretty reasonable charging 15 bucks per person for 2 entrees, 2 sides, 1 spring roll and a large soda.
We sat and filled our boots and the food was delish. Sarah looked exhausted red faced and puffy eyed from all the tears that she’s shed today.

We were both surprised at just how many people were in the casino on thanksgiving.
The place was rammed.
As we left our table we noticed the cleaner wiping the table and chairs where we had sat. Would this have happened if we weren’t dirty hikers I don’t think.

I checked in at the reception to find out the cost of a room for the night. The girl on the desk didn’t seem very hiker friendly and said she had no rooms and even if she did they would be nearly 400 bucks!

We were keen to try and get back to the trail as we’d only done 14 miles today and we need to be hitting at least 20 if not more.
We used the Uber app and arranged a taxi. This was surprisingly reasonable at only $16 to take us back to the trail.

The taxi driver dropped us off on Interstate 10 near where we’ve got a hitch from Spike.

We then retraced our steps before dropping down to another washed out river basin.
Again there was absolutely no trail to follow apart from a few posts arranged at random intervals.

Thank goodness for the GPS function on Far Out and we followed the red line out of the
washed out basin.

Smiles had again given us some great advice about potential camp spots at the foot of San Jacinto. Recommending a tent site near a water faucet another 4-5 miles away.
He said this place should be quite sheltered from the wind which is relief because it was extremely windy as we walked through the basin.

As we climbed up towards the water faucet at the foot of San Jacinto. Here we found the wind dropped and once again Smiles was bang on the money.

We pitched our tent around 50 feet from the water faucet in one of the tent spots made by other hikers.
Just in case the the winds really picked up in the night, we opted to leave the fly off the tent tonight – leaving just the mesh.

Smiles had cowboy camped 8 miles up from here and said it was the windiest night of his life.
So windy in fact that his inflatable pillow blew out from underneath his head and ended up down the mountain stuck between two rocks. Priceless!

As I record this I can see the city lights of Palm Springs and Cabazon in the distance. The red flashing lights of the wind turbines are also blinking on and off further up the mountain.

Sarah applied some tiger balm to her sore knee. Fingers crossed this does the trick because she’s really been suffering today!
And tomorrow we have a monster 20 mile climb up the infamous San Jacinto.

Good night and Happy Thanksgiving.